The Policy & Practice of Climate Change & Water

Interested in learning more about green bonds? Want to hear how cities like San Francisco are funding innovative nature-based solutions through newly established Climate Bonds Standards?

Ceres recently hosted a webinar on the newly launched water criteria focused on nature-based solutions for green bonds. The criteria have been undergoing staged development by the Climate Bonds Initiative, AGWA, Ceres, CDP, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and international experts. The criteria help define and evaluate low carbon and climate resilient water infrastructure projects encompassing two broad components: 1) climate mitigation and 2) climate adaptation/resilience.

If you missed the recent webinar, you can now watch and listen to the event on-demand to learn more about the topic. Read More...

LONDON: 22/05/2018: 11:00 BST: The Water Consortium, a global group of climate finance and sustainability organisations, has formally launched the new Water Infrastructure Criteria of the Climate Bonds Standard marking a major turning point in best practice for sustainable investment in water-based infrastructure and green/grey hybrid systems.

The final development phase extends the Criteria’s reach to cover nature-based and hybrid water infrastructure, such as wetlands and watersheds, that may be used for purposes of water collection, storage, treatment and distribution, flood protection and drought resilience.

This means that for the first time, nature’s water infrastructure such as watersheds, wetlands, and forests, which are essential for the provision of clean water around the world, can be protected, managed and restored, using Climate Bonds Certified green bonds – making them ripe for the investments they direly need.

Developed for potential green bond issuers and investors, the new Water Infrastructure Criteria defines and evaluates low carbon and climate resilient water infrastructure projects by encompassing two broad components: 1) climate mitigation and 2) climate adaptation and resilience.

The Criteria screens what types of water assets and projects can be included in green bond investment in water projects to qualify for Climate Bonds Certification. Certified projects must contribute to reductions in greenhouse gases over the lifetime of the asset, and must prove sufficient adaptation to changing climatic conditions.

Developed in two phases, the first phase of the Criteria covered both traditional ‘built’ or grey engineered water infrastructure for water treatment, flood defence, drought defence, storm water management, and ecological restoration and management.

Since the initial phase launch in 2016, about USD1.5 billion of Certified green bonds have been issued against these Criteria inNorth America and South Africa.

The Criteria now fully recognise that ecosystems (including rivers, lakes, natural watersheds, aquifers and groundwater) are the original water infrastructure and are essential to meet local, national, and global resilience goals. Nature-based solutions are increasingly being integrated within formal water management systems as green and hybrid infrastructure.

The Water Infrastructure Criteria is part of the overarching Climate Bonds Standard, which provides investors with a verifiable, science-based screening process to evaluate bond investments in a variety of sectors, bringing climate mitigation, resilience and adaptation planning to the fixed income investment space.

Undertaking the staged development program has been a Technical Working Group (TWG) and Industry Working Group (IWG), convened by the Water Consortium, which is comprised of the Climate Bonds Initiative, Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA; supported by the Stockholm International Water Institute), Ceres, CDP, and the World Resources Institute (WRI). Read More...

The latest episode of AGWA's ClimateReady Podcast is now out! This episode focuses on the critical role of climate finance in achieving the SDGs as well as the need for standardization within the green bonds market. It features an interview with Anna Creed of Climate Bonds Initiative. In 2017 alone the green bond issuances topped $100bn USD. That's one way that we can help fund a sustainable future! But, there is still need to scale up investments in climate bonds within the nearly $100 trillion broader bond market. Take a listen below to find out more! And, don't forget to check out other episodes on AGWA's Knowledge Platform and subscribe through SoundCloud or iTunes!

The Climate Bonds Initiative on behalf of the Water Consortium has released Water Criteria Phase 2 Nature-based and Hybrid Water infrastructure for public consultation.

The Water Criteria is part of the overarching Climate Bonds Standard which provides investors with a verifiable, science-based screening process to evaluate bond investments bringing climate mitigation, vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning to the fixed income investment space.

The Water Criteria lay out the requirements that water infrastructure assets and/or projects must meet to be eligible for inclusion as a Certified Climate Bond. They provide a means for investors to easily categorise and prioritise water infrastructure projects against climate impacts and climate resilience factors.

The Criteria have been developed in two phases:

Phase 1 Criteria, covering engineered water infrastructure, were released by the Water Consortium to the market in October 2016.

Phase 2 Criteria have a focus on nature-based and hybrid water infrastructure, such as wetlands and watersheds including for purposes as water collection, storage, treatment and distribution, flood protection and drought resilience.

The Phase 2 Criteria aim to: I. Certify water infrastructure that are compatible with a 2°C trajectoryII. Ensure these assets and the surrounding ecosystem are adaptive and resilient to a changing climate

Water Phase 2 Criteria have been developed throughout 2016 and 2017 by a Technical Working Group (TWG) and Industry Working Group (IWG), convened by the Climate Bonds Initiative, Ceres, CDP, the World Resources Institute (WRI) & the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA) acting in collaboration as a Water Consortium. AGWA is supported by the Stockholm International Water Institute.

The ‘Bonds and Climate Change: State of the Market 2017’ report is in-depth analysis of the climate-aligned and labelled green bond markets. The Report quantifies all bonds where proceeds are being used to finance low carbon and climate resilient infrastructure. The dataset of this year's State of the Market includes 3,493 bonds from 1,128 issuers across seven climate themes: transport, energy, multi-sector, water, buildings and industry, waste and pollution, agriculture and forestry. The 2017 report also has a particular focus on cities with ten case studies identifying existing best practice green city bonds issuance along with opportunities for new city based issuance. Read More...

The Climate Bonds Initiative has launched a Hydropower Technical Working Group (TWG) to assess and develop Criteria for climate-friendly investment in the sector.

The aim is to develop Criteria that can identify and monitor hydropower investments which deliver climate mitigation benefits and/or incorporate adaptation and resilience impacts, whilst screening out those that don’t meet these objectives.

The Criteria are intended to provide a screening tool for both investors and issuers to determine whether bonds linked to hydropower assets can be considered consistent with limiting warming to a global average of 2°C. They will provide a potential path for certifying green bonds in the sector, under the Climate Bonds Standard and Certification Scheme.

The TWG will be taking a robust science-based approach, one that looks at verifiable targets and metrics and takes into account in its analysis and assessment processes the environmental and social challenges that face some hydro developments.